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June 30, 2011

G80: Red Sox 5, Phillies 2

Lester (7-2-0-2-5, 120) was nearly untouchable and Jason Varitek cracked two solo home runs as Boston avoided a sweep in Philadelphia. The win was Terry Francona's 700th regular-season victory as Red Sox manager.

Lester and Hamels were matching each other bagel for bagel until Hamels was hit on the right hand by Adrian Gonzalez's line drive in the fourth inning. Hamels (4-2-0-0-2, 53) made the play on Evil Bert and then retired Dustin Pedroia to end the inning, but did not return to the mound. X-rays were negative on Hamels's right hand contusion.

With Hamels gone, the Red Sox wasted no time in scoring runs. Josh Reddick tripled off David Herndon with one out in the fifth and scored on Drew Sutton's single. Marco Scutaro singled and, after Lester fanned, Jacoby Ellsbury hit the second of his three singles to bring in Sutton.

Varitek homered off Herndon with two outs in the sixth to give the Sox a 3-0 lead. In the eighth, Pedroia and Varitek hit back-to-back dongs off Drew Carpenter. Reddick nearly made it three in a row, but his fly ball was caught at the base of the wall in right-center.

After Daniel Bard pitched the eighth, Bobby Jenks faltered in the ninth, allowing a lead-off single and a one-out, two-run home run to Ryan Howard. After Jenks walked Shane Victorino, Tito went to Jonathan Papelbon, who quickly dismissed the next two hitters.

The Red Sox begin a three-game weekend series in Houston on Friday night - and then the scourge of interleague play will finally be over ... until next year.

87 comments:

The first game was SWEET! Yesterday's game was SWEEEET!! Will today's game be SWEEEEP!!!? We'll see. My 8-5 Sox win prediction sucked, but that's ok with me.

With the tv blackout, once again i watched last night's game this morning. Will watch today's game around 5-6 after the NESN blackout clears out in the mlb.tv archive. Here I am, a Phillies fan in VT, 212 miles from Boston and I have to endure a blackout.

This should be another great pitching matchup. Fortunately, the Phils adjusted their rotation the other day to have Hamels pitch (still on four days rest) over Jekyll and Hyde Kendrick.

Saw the Vick comment from you, Allan. He is the reason I am boycotting the Eagles.

PeteAbe: "Kevin Youkilis is out with a sore left ankle, the result of a foul ball last night. He's getting a precautionary x-ray before the game. He said he had trouble sleeping last night. Youkilis is already playing with a sore right ankle."

PeteAbe again: "A source close to Mike Cameron told the Globe this morning that the Red Sox are working on a roster move that involves the outfielder. Cameron was called into a meeting with team officials today when he arrived at Citizens Bank Park. It is unclear whether Cameron is being released, designated for assignment, traded or being placed on the disabled list. ..."

Sounds like Yook's sore left ankle from the foul ball last night forced their hand a bit for infield depth. Yook already playing on a sore right ankle. (Plus Cameron being cold, burnt toast doesn't make this move hurt at all.)

So glad I can watch the game today (altho not threading much). I had to miss last night's game for a war resisters fundraiser. We broke our previous record for attendance and $$ raised, a great success, and tons of fun.

Don & Remy are far from perfect, but I'm glad I don't monitor them closely enough to be as annoyed as you guys. I have enough trouble being so annoyed at all the corporate logos and in-game advertising.

Just checked in on the game (GDGD) at work and saw LBJ up with 2 men on... nice. Gets a hit--very nice. Next man up MCDONALD?!?! WTF? I nearly fell out of my chair--Where's Pedey? Microwave plays the part of rally killer. Oh, well.

I now see that because of Youk's bruised foot they the little-big man batting clean-up.

And NESN, king of the moon shot, this time is so sure it's NOT a HR, they actually stay on the fielder the whole time, zoomed in, to the point where we don't see the ball land in the stands, because they're off camera.

i HATE when they do a replay and they zoom in on the ball coming out of the pitcher's hand, then try to pull back so we can see the hitter hit it (they often don't do that, so we miss it), then they zoom in on the ball in the air, so we have no idea how it is travelling over the fence.

We've been on the road since 11:00 am on our way to Atlanta, listening to the game We just switched drivers so I can now read and post.

My comments so far:Mcdonald batting 2nd????Yay TekNice job Lester.

And, if these Philly announcers mention that the phillies have their first chance at a series sweep since 2000 again, I may have to yell a little. Although they have been quieter about it since the Sox took the lead.

NESN: where deep flies go to die. We'll show you the crowd as it lands in the fielder's glove, or we'll show you the fielder while it lands in the stands, OR we'll show you the first deck as it lands in the second deck. Only on NESN.

Watched game at 6pm (post-blackout). First, congrats on the win, and for Terry's 700th (remember, he was the Phils manager in hard times)! I'd say Adrian Gonzalez hit the equivalent of a Grand Salami when he smashed Cole Hamels' hand, forcing him out of the game and allowing three consecutive pitchers in that have pitched more for the AAA IronPigs than the big club. But give credit to Jason Varitek (that name is SO high tech!). And even JD had a hit to the vexation of Phils fans.

Allan, hope you check out the Phils for the next three days in your back yard.

And you say no more interleague after Houston? Um, what if the Sox make the Series? That's interleague, isn't it?

Technically, yes, it is. And I did think of that. But it seems like apples and oranges to me. It is only one series and playing the NL is unavoidable if the Sox want to play in the WS. I will still hate the 2 sets of rules if it happens though. In fact, I'll hate it more than I do for games in June and July, because the stakes are higher.